Blizzard offers an updated set of PTR patch notes for the upcoming version 1.07 update for Diablo III. There is one new achievement listed along with a number of bug fixes for the action/RPG sequel, including some with the Public Test Realm itself. Arguably most significant is the change so that players are considered "elites" within the game, which will impact certain item effects in PvP combat. Looking beyond the release of this new patch in the live version of the game, a forum post from a Community Manager says Blizzard is working to address player complaints that characters are merely the sum of their gear:

We know that (for many players) itís much more rewarding to gear up from items that you find while playing normally than it is to necessarily go through Auction House, and weíre working to make improvements in that area. There are a lot of ways we could attempt to reach that goal, and choosing the best one(s) to go with is not always a fast process. I want to encourage you all to continue to post your thoughts on the subject and I promise we will keep reading and relaying them.

Verno wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 12:24:There's still hope, LOD fixed up a lot of bullshit and really fleshed out Diablo 2. No reason an expansion can't be a major overhaul for Diablo 3. I hope that Blizzards still got the magic in there somewhere

Yeah there's hope. I'd have more hope if they hadn't gotten rid of Bliz North.

We know that (for many players) itís much more rewarding to gear up from items that you find while playing normally than it is to necessarily go through Auction House

Really? You guys know that? Then why is your game designed as is? These two things are diametrically opposed.

Blizzard is working to address player complaints that characters are merely the sum of their gear

Nobody saw that coming when they simplified the skill trees, and did away with attributes (and announced an auction house)? I'm kind of baffled as to what people were expecting when they saw all those things.

Creston

I would go even further and say you're really just your weapon stat, as all classes leverage that for everything.

We know that (for many players) itís much more rewarding to gear up from items that you find while playing normally than it is to necessarily go through Auction House, and weíre working to make improvements in that area.

Totally waiting for the auction house consumables to buff magic find for 60 minutes.

I found Diablo 3 to be a competent but ultimately bland gaming experience. They ticked all the right boxes but forgot to include the magical Blizzard polish and it didn't seem like they grasped what people liked about the previous games.

It's a new generation of gamer and that includes designers, they are going to make mistakes and disagree with us older chaps about what makes a game fun. Being fair to Blizzard, I do have friends who really enjoyed it, they really don't play it anymore but I guess you don't need to obsessively play every game for 500 hours to have truly enjoyed it.

Wallshadows wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 11:22:Loot issues stem from the fact that there are no more attribute points to spread out the stats in a correct method to make specialized loot for each class. As it is now, each piece of gear is balanced around mountains of random modifiers which can, in most cases, be open rolls for each primary stat so it can be worn by all classes depending on the roll. Some pieces rely on up to six random modifiers and from those six modifiers, there are dozens of potential combinations which often produce absolute garbage. Diablo 2 had the same system, but it feels like they've overburdened the system.

So, as mentioned earlier, either provide some kind of class-requirement items with proper stats and maintain random ranges or consolidate some of the existing stats to make the overall item quality less /facedesk.

its a fundamental flaw in diablo 3 that is not fixable without fundamental reform. they simply shunted too much (almost all) character influence onto items. the item system is too immature to handle the load and it broke the game.

Krizzen wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 12:00:While Blizzard still "tries to make improvements" to the game wrecking Auction House we get a real money auction houseless Path of Exile just 4 hours from this post! Finally!

Out of curiosity, Path of Exile is going to be F2P, right? How do the Path of Exile devs plan to make money? I'm not being snarky, I genuinely would like to know. They've obviously put a ton of money into developing it, how are they planning on earning it back and paying for server upkeep etc?

Creston

I heard through visual customization, and creation of private invite only servers /w your own rules etc. I could be wrong though. But no pay to win.

Yes, it's F2P, and one of the most generous F2P games I've seen. They're adamantly opposed to selling power in any form. Most things are just going to be cosmetics like different weapon effects, pets, graphical effects for your character, different skill effects. They also sell more character slots, but they give you 24 slots for free. They also sell more stash tabs, but they give you quite a lot for free.

There are some other things in the works for the shop like custom ladders where you can just invite your friends/guild.

Basically, you don't feel gimped if you don't want to pay anything. You'll have access to the full game.

Creston wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 13:14:Out of curiosity, Path of Exile is going to be F2P, right? How do the Path of Exile devs plan to make money? I'm not being snarky, I genuinely would like to know. They've obviously put a ton of money into developing it, how are they planning on earning it back and paying for server upkeep etc?

Last time I was into the game it was mostly cosmetic stuff (item additions, etc), not sure how its progressed though. They made a few million of selling non-combat pets packed in with beta keys and whatnot so I think they'll be alright. It's a promising game but they really need to fix up the tempo of the Normal difficulty and general early level stuff, it's quite slow and will turn many people off I think. The devs are generally very responsive and open to listening to feedback though which is refreshing. For example they acknowledged the early game stuff and said they will work on it after they get through the open beta launch.

I don't think its the second coming of ARPG games and I wish they'd revisit a lot of the UI elements especially but it's definitely worth trying for yourself. Can't argue with the price tag. I'll definitely revisit it in a few months and see whats changed. Just keep in mind its like the Dark Souls of ARPGs though, nothing will be explained and you will do a lot of figuring things out for yourself or looking at forums/wikis. This can be a positive or a negative depending on who you're talking to

Krizzen wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 12:00:While Blizzard still "tries to make improvements" to the game wrecking Auction House we get a real money auction houseless Path of Exile just 4 hours from this post! Finally!

Out of curiosity, Path of Exile is going to be F2P, right? How do the Path of Exile devs plan to make money? I'm not being snarky, I genuinely would like to know. They've obviously put a ton of money into developing it, how are they planning on earning it back and paying for server upkeep etc?

We know that (for many players) itís much more rewarding to gear up from items that you find while playing normally than it is to necessarily go through Auction House

Really? You guys know that? Then why is your game designed as is? These two things are diametrically opposed.

Blizzard is working to address player complaints that characters are merely the sum of their gear

Nobody saw that coming when they simplified the skill trees, and did away with attributes (and announced an auction house)? I'm kind of baffled as to what people were expecting when they saw all those things.

Verno wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 12:24:There's still hope, LOD fixed up a lot of bullshit and really fleshed out Diablo 2. No reason an expansion can't be a major overhaul for Diablo 3. I hope that Blizzards still got the magic in there somewhere

Yeah there's hope. I'd have more hope if they hadn't gotten rid of Bliz North.

There's still hope, LOD fixed up a lot of bullshit and really fleshed out Diablo 2. No reason an expansion can't be a major overhaul for Diablo 3. I hope that Blizzards still got the magic in there somewhere

Undocumented Alien wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 12:04:I miss the way Diablo (1) did Attributes and Spells. Yes, they had 3 classes, but, you could tweak and modify them to make, for example, a Warlock (Warrior with decent spell casting) or just a straight up Warrior (pour points into Strength etc.). And playing as the Wizard was always (mostly) a unique experience from character to character as you were never guaranteed the same build (spells) as the spell tombs were drops, which I believed added to the value of exploring every inch of a level.

I'd love top see Diablo (1) redone in todays technologies (graphics, etc.). I miss that each game was a true unique experience and each build was pretty unique as you were a product of the drops the game gave you and the control you had over attribute points.

I guess the Torchlight games are closer to that, but I'd still love to see Diablo (1) redone.

So... my suggestion to them would be a re-write...

Yeah I really liked the spell system from D1. Made it fun to explore and find things. They actually had something similar in D3 before it got Jayed. You would pick up the skill runs as loot. Also, there were a lot more of them...

I miss the way Diablo (1) did Attributes and Spells. Yes, they had 3 classes, but, you could tweak and modify them to make, for example, a Warlock (Warrior with decent spell casting) or just a straight up Warrior (pour points into Strength etc.). And playing as the Wizard was always (mostly) a unique experience from character to character as you were never guaranteed the same build (spells) as the spell tombs were drops, which I believed added to the value of exploring every inch of a level.

I'd love top see Diablo (1) redone in todays technologies (graphics, etc.). I miss that each game was a true unique experience and each build was pretty unique as you were a product of the drops the game gave you and the control you had over attribute points.

I guess the Torchlight games are closer to that, but I'd still love to see Diablo (1) redone.

ItBurn wrote on Jan 23, 2013, 11:42:Yeah, I want to invest in skills. This is a major issue for me. Everyone has the same exact character, except with different loot... No replayability per class. Also, you're forced to use specific skills. I want to use the skills that I like and make them stronger so that they become viable, with points or whatever... You know, customization and character progression...

Yeah you nailed it. This is why I'm a bit optimistic that things will improve now that Jay is gone. Look at the classes he contributed heavily to, Wizard and Monk. Two of the most balanced but ultimately boring classes where players don't get any sense of identity. In general that was a real problem with the game, no one had any sense of identity or individual representation of their character. Everyone was the same getting the same loot with the same stats and etc. Sure the balance was better than Diablo 2 but more importantly it was less fun.